Have you ever heard the saying "With every obstacle comes opportunity"? Well, it's said many ways, but our homes are filled with gadgets and machines that need repair and maintenance. Innovation is constant and with necessary repairs come decisions and sometimes those decisions involve an investment that could lead to saving money. A new energy efficient pool pump can save you quite of bit of money every month on your energy bill. Every pool pump repair expense should be compared to the cost of a new energy efficient pool pump and a comparison of savings vs. costs. We will break this down to help everyone decide if an energy efficient pool pump is a smarter investment than your typical pool pump repair.

The most common pool pump repair issues are dead pump motors, bad motor bearings, bad seals and gaskets, etc. You can read more about common pool pump repairs here. Pool pump parts will degrade over time and maintenance is mandatory every 5 to 10 years. These pool pump repair issues usually, but not always, lead to pool pump motor replacement which includes rebuilding the pool pump with new gaskets, seals, and all other parts that need replacement. Some other parts that go bad are impellers, diffusers, housing plates, pots, etc.

Some Pool Pump Repairs Turn Into Energy Efficient Pool Pump Installs

One major thing to remember is not all used pool pumps go back together perfectly. Some pool pumps like The Pentair Whisperflo have better track records than others, but we try to prepare our customers for the potential that the old pool pump may not be water tight after the pool pump repair. Pool pump replacement may be the only solution! We can try the pool pump repair, but your money may very well be better spent on a new pump. We're going to do a little math now to show how a new energy efficient pool pump installation may save you money.

At the time of this writing, we charge around $1,600 to install a new energy efficient pool pump with labor and parts and we charge around $450 or more with extra parts for a typical pool pump motor replacement, but this can grow in expense if more pump parts need replacement. An energy efficient pool pump can save a homeowner anywhere from $20 to $40 a month in energy depending on the current horsepower of the pool pump. Replacing higher horsepower pool pumps like the 1.5 hp or 2 hp with an energy efficient pool pump will result in significant energy savings.

Some Pools Still Need To Run At Higher RPM For Short Period Every Day

The beauty of these energy efficient pool pumps is you can select what rpm (rotations per minute) you want the pump to run at for whatever period of time you need. For instance, if you use your spa, you can set the rpm up higher for spa jet action and you will need higher rpm to heat your pool or spa as well. Pools with spas also may need to run their energy efficient pool pump at higher rpm to filter the spa for a limited time every day. You can also customize your energy efficient pool pump timer to run at a higher speed for your automatic pool cleaner for an hour and then run your filtering at a much lower speed for conservation. For everyday filtering though, you can run your energy efficient pool pump at a very low rpm which will conserve your energy.

There are some minor consequences to the energy efficient pool pump which we will go over, but there are major advantages in savings and conservation. Understand that there is significant energy conservation with running a pool pump at 1/8 horse power for 12 hours vs. 2 hp for 2 hours. Let's say for a hypothetical example that it takes a 2 hp pool pump 6 hours to filter the same amount of pool water as it takes a 1/4 hp pool pump running for 20 hours. The 1/4 hp pool pump will have significant energy conservation even though it takes much longer to filter the same amount of water, because it draws much less energy at the lower hp speed.

You Can Expect To Save $20 To $40 Per Month With An Energy Efficient Pool Pump

Here is a little math. You can expect to save $20 a month with most energy efficient pool pump installations which equals $240 of energy savings every year. This equals $1440 of savings over 6 years which pays for the energy efficient pool pump. Now, if you have a 1.5 hp or 2 hp pool pump, you may save even more money. In many 2 hp cases, you could save $40 a month which equals $2880 of savings over 6 years which almost pays for your pump and gives you lots of money for any repairs that come up in that first 5 to 10 years. Now, I mentioned some consequences that need to be known.

With Innovation Comes Challenge

Energy efficient pool pump motors and parts are more expensive. They also have more expensive parts such as the drive assembly which can cost over $700 for the part alone at the time of this writing. They are relatively new to the market, so there have been a few bugs in the making as well. Innovation takes time to perfect, so there could be more expensive repairs. This reminds me a lot of our article on pool heaters. New pool heaters don't melt plumbing or boil water as often as previous designs and you can turn your pool heater on with your cell phone, but they are also more expensive and have more parts that need replacing. Innovation has it's costs and expert opinion and information should be considered before every purchase decision.

Sometimes these pool repairs lead to tough decisions, but don't worry....Govt. regulations and State laws are pushing us in the direction of energy efficiency, so pretty soon only energy efficient pool pumps will be available. There are also rebates and incentives at times to help motivate people to conserve on energy. Next time you are faced with a pool pump repair in Newport Beach or any other city, be prepared to consider an energy efficient pool pump, because it could save you a lot of money and help the earth!

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